Human remains found in Pacifica in 2006 ID’d with DNA

The San Mateo County coroner’s office on Tuesday identified the remains of a body found in Pacifica in 2006 as a 41-year-old resident of Washington, D.C.

The remains of an unidentified female were found alongside a service trail off southbound state Highway 1 on June 6, 2006, and were identified Tuesday as Christine Martell Kuhn, who was last seen by her family a year earlier.

The coroner’s office positively identified Kuhn by submitting her DNA to the California Department of Justice and a profile was submitted to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which enables federal, state and local forensic laboratories to exchange and compare DNA profiles electronically.

The department was able to match Kuhn to the remains because her daughter submitted a DNA specimen in 2014 and a DNA profile was completed and submitted to CODIS, Coroner Robert Foucrault said.

The Department of Justice on Tuesday then notified the county coroner’s office of the CODIS association with Kuhn’s missing profile.

Kuhn’s remains were badly decomposed and her cause of death was not determined, according to the coroner’s office.

Kuhn’s fingerprints match the arrest record linked to a case documented on Nov. 30, 2006, that was handled by the California Highway Patrol’s San Francisco office. The name “Sam Smith” was an alias and is suspected to be fictitious.